National Bank of Greece (NBG) may be selling its Turkish subsidiary Finansbank. The sale could bring in €3bn, enough to cover the estimated capital shortfall at NBG. NBG had previously been thinking of selling a 40 percent stake in Finansbank, but could get a better price selling its 99 percent stake to a single buyer.
Lawmakers in Greece are on track to complete legislative reforms this month to qualify for euro zone bank recapitalization funds in November.
In Russia, 1/6 of privately owned banks have closed in the last two years, with the national economy slowed by low oil prices and isolationist politics. B&N Bank, gambling that the economy turns around soon, has become the fifth largest bank by buying up seven of its competitors so far. With its latest acquisitions, B&N may now be large enough to be considered too big to fail.
The specter of bank failure returned to Georgia tonight with state regulators closing The Bank of Georgia, with 7 locations southwest of Atlanta and a quarter billion dollars in deposits. Fidelity Bank is taking over the deposits and purchasing all but a few of the assets. The failed bank had specialized in real estate loans.
In the opposite corner of the country a much smaller bank failed. Hometown National Bank in Longview, Washington had less than $5 million in deposits. Twin City Bank is taking over the deposits and purchasing most of the assets.
